lion facts, Another study revealed there are three major types of lions, one North African–Asian, one southern African and one middle African.Conversely, Per Christiansen found that using skull morphology allowed him to identify the subspecies krugeri, nubica, persica, and senegalensis, while there was overlap between bleyenberghi with senegalensis and krugeri.
The Asiatic lion persica was the most distinctive, and the Cape lion had characteristics allying it more with P. l. persica than the other sub-Saharan lions. He had analysed 58 lion skulls in three European museums.
The majority of lions kept in zoos are hybrids of different subspecies.
Approximately 77% of the captive lions registered by the International Species Information System are of unknown origin. Nonetheless, they might carry genes which are extinct in the wild, and might be therefore important to maintain overall genetic variability of the lion.
It is believed that those lions, imported to Europe before the middle of the nineteenth century, were mainly either Barbary lions from North Africa or lions from the Cape.
